Rotten Apples
by CatatonicKuroneko
Summary: Apple Bloom, the only survivor of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, struggles with the fact that her friends had been killed before her eyes, and her brother being the one who did it.
1. Chapter 1

"She gonna be ok, Ruby Flare?"

She heard a disembodied voice, she couldn't make out who it was.

"Yes, she will, she may require a little rehabilitation, but she'll be fine soon enough... but"

_Who were they talking about? Her? What was going on? What where they talking about? _

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out two ponies. One, a tall, gray unicorn with red hair, the other being a shorter, more young than the other, with orange-yellow fur and a cowboy hat.

The tiny filly managed to choke out, a strange gurgled noise that was barely audible. The blonde pony brightened up as she turned to face the half-awake filly.  
>"Apple Bloom! Your'e awake! Thank Celestia. How are ya feelin', sugarcube?" she asked, trotting over to the structure in which the small pony was lying on, which she then realized was a hospital bed.<p>

_Applejack? _the pony thought, trying to speak but couldn't manage.

The gray pony, Ruby Flare, trotted over to Applejack.  
>"About your sister, Applejack," Ruby Flare started, with sympathy. Applejack looked up from her bedridden sister.<br>"What is it?" she asked, concerned.  
>"About Apple Bloom's condition..." Apple Bloom started to sit up, but Applejack pushed her back down.<br>"Don't move, sugarcube, your wounds are just now healing." Apple Bloom looked over herself. A large, snaking scar made its may vertically across her stomach. She looked back at Applejack, who had grabbed a mirror and lifted it to her face.

Apple Bloom noticed a white neck brace around her neck, and found that it was hard to move her neck. "Please try not to move your neck, Apple Bloom," Applejack whispered to the small pony. Ruby Flare brought back a clipboard.  
>"It says that while her external wounds will mend over the course of a few years..." she began. Apple Bloom gulped at the sound of that.<p>

"I'm afraid your sister will never be able to speak again." Apple Bloom squealed with shock, _that part of my voice seemed to work, _she thought. _so why won't I be able to talk? _Her mouth reeked with the scent of old blood and she tried to move her tongue around to clean it, but found she was'nt able to move as much as she thought she would. She looked at the mirror, which Applejack had lay down for her and picked it up with her left hoof.

She aimed it toward her mouth and opened wide. She dropped the mirror in shock and watched it clatter to the floor, the shards of glass breaking into several pieces. All that was left of her tongue was a small, bloody stub. Applejack walked back over to her after being given more overview, sighing.  
>"Well, at least one thing's for sure..." she said, solemnly giving the news.<br>"At least ya got yur cutie mark," she said, pointing to the flank of the wounded pony.

It was a withering flower.


	2. Chapter 2

Apple Bloom stared at the cutie mark in disbelief. …_.this isn't a cutie mark... _she thought, starting to cry. _This is a curse! Why? Why not an ordinary flower, or a nice, big apple pie? _She looked around, still sobbing.  
>"Please don't cry, sugarcube!" Appljack tried to comfort her, but her crying didn't stop. Apple Bloom stared at her surroundings, tears still streaming down her face. A 'get well soon' card was placed on the table. The clear, clean handwriting signified it to be written by Twilight Sparkle, and the poorly drawn heart must've been done by Spike.<p>

Next to the card was a vase of flowers, fantastically arranged. That probably must've been Fluttershy's idea. Flowers and animals were always on her list of favorite things. A string of colorful balloons floated in the air. _Pinkie Pie _Apple Bloom thought, _she loves balloons... _Apple Bloom thought, staring at the pink, blue and yellow balloons. Apple Bloom was then reminded of the pink pony's flank, with three balloons. _Why does she get the good cutie mark? All I get is... _she stopped, mid-thought, staring down at the dying flower on her flank. _How will I go back to school with a cutie mark like __**this **__?_

Applejack seemed to read her mind as she asked the nurse, who was looking over the notes on her clipboard, "When might 'lil Apple Bloom be able to go back to school?" Apple Bloom sighed with relief, or as much as a sigh as she could manage with the brace on.  
>"About a few months, until then, you'll have to homeschool her." Applejack nodded.<br>"Sure thang! You can count on me!" Applejack then suddenly leaned in closer to the gray unicorn, and whispered, "when might the trial be?" Applejack wasn't a very loud whisperer, as Apple Bloom quickly perked her ears up.

"In a few days," Ruby Flare responded. "Until then, we'll be letting Apple Bloom rest for a few days. And when the time comes..." she spoke. "Justice will be served," the nurse pony said, looking up at a notice on the wall. Apple Bloom leaned slightly inward, wondering what the notice was about. The text was small, but all she could make out was an image of her friend, Sweetie Belle...

With a red X over the picture.


	3. Chapter 3

Apple Bloom pointed to the picture across the room, trying to speak, but nothing would come out. Ruby Flare figured out what she was trying to ask and nodded. "Your friend, Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom nodded frantically at the nurse, who was frowning now. Apple Bloom braced herself for the worst, but still wasn't ready for the news.

"You're friend didn't survive from her wounds... I'm so sorry," Ruby Flare said, looking at the picture on the wall with regret. "We did all we could... but her wounds were too great." Apple Bloom lay back down, turning over on her side, sobbing uncontrollably. _Please... no... first Scootaloo... and now Sweetie Belle? _she thought, trying not to let her anguish show to her sister as the painful memories kept coming back to her.

_"All I want is a quiet life, without all you Cutie Mark Crusaders runnin' round the place, making with the noise. When I'm finished with y'all, there gonna be no noise from you ever again."_

_….."I'll... I'll scream, and scream again, an' Applejack will hear and, and-... _That was the last thing that Apple Bloom ever heard herself say. Soon enough, she had been cut open and was almost strangled to death by her own entrails, crushing her neck. That was what the brace was for. _but... why? _She thought. _Why couldn't I have died just then and there? _She screamed inside, hoping that words would form.

Her memories of Big Macintosh, her own brother, violating her two best friends in the whole world. She remembered being flung across the room like an apple into a bucket. She remembered still being conscious as Scootaloo's head was torn clean from her body, and Sweetie Belle's eyes gouged out, while Big Macintosh stifled their screams with one hoof, and killing them with this other.

But most of all, she remembered Applejack, being called into the cider cellar, revealing the gruesome sight to her. All of her little sister's friends, brutally slaughtered by her older brother, the one she had looked up too. Applejack had acted quickly, and bucked the pony in the face, knocking him out. As soon as his unconscious body hit the ground, she too, started to fade. The last thing she remembered was Applejack looking over the bodies, and then coming over to her.

_Apple Bloom! Are you ok! Apple Bloom! Don't worry, I'll get help for y'all! _was the last thing she heard before she too passed out from the pain. _And now I'm here... wanting to die... _Apple Bloom thought, shooing away the horrifying memory away from her.

Applejack came over to her, with a newspaper in her hands. "Wanna read somethin'? You must be bored, sitting in that bed all day, huh?"Apple Bloom nodded, as Applejack handed her the news.

_**SWEET APPLE MURDERER GOES ON TRIAL ON THE 16TH **_

Apple Bloom passed it back. She didn't want to read anything right now.


End file.
